Mr Nimbus

I passed comment on SR earlier in the thread about them scrambling. I am happy to see they got done what was needed. There will be an adjustment period of course, but the players that have arrived give us a fighting chance.

I understand the transfer process, perhaps I didn't articulate myself well enough in my OP. All of those clubs, to my mind are adding additional depth. Arsenal signing Jorginho is a "nice to have" its probably not a necessity. Our situation is completely different. We have needed a CF since Ings left and Armstrong proved not clinical enough at PL level. To go into the afternoon of the last day, and allegedly bouncing around from target to target based on pretty sound sources, to me smacks of a desperation we used to look down at other clubs for. All IMO of course

Sorry my mistake. I will try again. What a fantastic model for running a club. Scratching around for targets when we've had all month is a much better option. Silly me.

Whatever happens with incomings, it absolutely shows the state the club is in. SR can talk about "the process" etc but scrambling around on deadline day is something we would have laughed at teams for previously. It's all just very very sad.

I'd love to win this to get one over those self entitled morons. Be funny to see Given & Ferdinand humbled in the studio too. Cant see it however but I live in hope.

It will be the (inevitable) super league that will restore some form of normality. I think if it was examined properly Sky had a lot to do with the backlash to it. They were on the edge of having the golden goose up and leave. Installed panic in the masses and it went away. It will come back and it will happen. There is no shame or ethics in football, money talks. Qatar WC, Newcastle's blood money etc. When the "big clubs" up and leave, interest from broadcasters will lessen, money will go down and a more even playing field will hopefully come to the forefront.

I can give the second half against Everton to you, but not the Palace game. We got lucky in that game (which is great btw) "Aggressive means we might lose" - Not sure on that. Whilst we may not be physically bullied (although I am not sure we were being) in the games I have watched, teams are bullying us with their control of the ball. Villa did it, so did Newcastle so did Brighton. Thats how teams mostly play these days to my mind.

I'm still not fully sure what an "aggressive & front footed team" actually means. NJ says it an awful lot. Bloke knows more about football than me granted, but to my untrained eye, it's a team that collects a fair amount of yellow cards and presses in a slightly uncoordinated way. I will give him credit for making us seemingly harder to break down in open play however. Although, with games running out, aiming to "not lose" simply wont be enough. We will need to have a game plan to go out and win games. Baring the City game, I have yet to see us do that.

You've lost this season. You don't understand what the word literally means.

Cant comment on last night game, but same happened against Villa in Itchen South. Some Peaky Blinders cosplay lads had a box. Gave it large when they scored and scarpered in before FT. Saints steward stood there laughing with them.

He walked into defenceAnd now he's taking overAnd it's beautiful Because of Celta Car

As someone who was keen for NJ to lose his job after the Forest game, I have been really impressed with how solid we've looked post that game. I expect the weight of expectation may get to us. Emery has got them looking much more organised. Cagey 1-1.

I blame a lot of it on Twitter. If you read through the saints hashtag you'd think the club employs scouts everywhere. People claiming to be experts on players that I can guarantee they have only heard of on FM or FIFA

I am beginning to think, despite having no evidence to prove it, that SR have ran some data analytics and come to the conclusion that 3/5 ATB results in more points per game over the long haul. I don't know if the stats back that up or if this is just someone clutching at straws to understand the decisions going on right now. Ralph planned 3/5 ATB all summer and dumped it. NJ is appointed and seems to prefer it at least. There have been mutterings of thats the formation SR want (again I dont know the truth on that) In terms of Jones, as much as we ay it nonsense etc, you do need a leader people can get behind. He was on a sticky wicket the minute we performed the way we did against Lincoln. He's out of his depth and needs to go. He won't of course as the powers that be seemingly know best. Im so so sad about the whole situation.

Looking at that, I have gone with us getting 14 points from them games and I went against my intuition to give us a couple of wins. Bleak, really bleak

I simply cannot see us having the bottle for this match. Which is not very analytical, or indeed how I try to view football but thats how I feel. I mention it in most of my posts, but the lack of being able to defend drives me mental. I know we need a striker but if we were able to keep things tighter, be able to eek out 0-0's for example which are probably worth 5-6 points a season, that wouldn't be such a pressing issue imo. Instead we cant defend, meaning we concede in nearly every game and our poor attacking threat is enhanced because it's highly unlikely we will score more than once. 2-0 Forest is my prediction.

I said it on another thread, that performance against Lincoln and additionally the comments he made after the game, really put him in a difficult position. Top level managers know that performance, regardless of result is absolutely fundamental these days. It allows people to kind of get a sense of what you're looking to do and as such "buy in" Add in the performance against Brighton being completely shambolic, questionable selctions in both games back and not being a "glamour appointment" he is working on the back foot. He needs results if a defined pattern of play is not something he wants to be wedded too and right now that doesn't seem likely. All IMO of course, others may see it completely differently

Somehow sort the defensive erosion thats happened over the last 2-3 years out as a priority. A back 4 of KWP - BC - Sali/DCC - Perraud is good enough personal for a team in the bottom half to be better defensively then what we are. So then its about is the GK good enough. Long term I would say yes. Right now, in our position, I think Bazunu is not what we need. So signing 1 a GK - Who? I don't know, but I would like someone who has had some top level experience. Midfield is causing us issues as we are not offering enough support to the back 4. Our midfield is porous. Signing 2 - A proper holding midfielder who can compliment Lavia. Signing 3 - A solid 10 - 15 goal striker. Won't be popular but Ings would be great back here. Complemented Adams really well and scored foals out of nothing. Something teams in the bottom half need.

4-1 Fulham. Back 5 to try and tighten up, we’re concede in the first 20 minutes and not know how to attack. Mitrovic will run riot and give Lyanco a real hard time is my guess.

Should have put money on this FFS

I think they will swarm all over us, take an early lead and we will just huff and puff with little to no imaginative football. Really hope I am wrong. I also hope the long balls from the back we deployed against Lincoln are at a minimum. 3-1 Brighton I reckon.

I'm always kind of wary of the type of comment NJ made last night, that allude to the result is all that matters. Technically yes, winning is all that matters, however if you consistently perform as badly as we did you'll lose far more than you win. Im a fairly patient person and have wished it would turn for players like Adam Armstrong but I think his time here should be over pretty quickly. There was a chance in the first half, he's in on goal and squares it to Che (who missed a pretty easy chance) That pass showed me everything I needed to know. His confidence has gone. Id happily take 5 million from a championship team. It's not going to work. Jury is still out for me. I was away when NJ was appointed so wasn't in the loop on what people were saying etc. One thing I am picking up from people who watched Luton etc is he likes experienced players. Seems at odds with the entire recruitment strategy of the summer but maybe I am looking too deep at it. Anyone know why JJM and or Ballard were not involved?

They are a decent side (especially at home) I think though if we can keep concentrated and defend properly (or properly enough for us) I fancy us to nick it. Their FB's are definitely exploitable and I would hope we can target them to get some joy. 1-2 to the Saints.

3-1 Bournemouth I reckon. 1-1 at HT, early goal in the second half for Bournemouth and a late third as we aimlessly try and get an equaliser.

Has anyone worked out the thought process of the 4 subs today? Said it before and I will say it again. We have a team that due to being so badly organised defensively, need at least two goals to win. Issue with that is we have such a lack of quality in forward areas we very rarely score 2 goals. Times up Ralph. Wish you well in the future but it’s not working here and it’s past the point of changing.